


kasintahan

by minarimochan



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Drama, Jealousy, Love Confessions, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Sort Of, a lot of filipino culture references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23571895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minarimochan/pseuds/minarimochan
Summary: “It’s--” Michael parked in front of the house. “I think my moms threw a party.”Jeremy paused. What did that matter? They’d be in Michael’s room the whole time, not bothering anyone. “So?”“So--!? Dude you don’t get it -- my mom is Filipino. This is most definitely a Filipino party.”Jeremy experiences his first Filipino party with Michael, being forced to eat, dodging relatives left and right, and maybe even line dancing to September.
Relationships: Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84





	kasintahan

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall !
> 
> i feel like we don't talk about michael being filipino enough, so i wrote this lol. originally it was supposed to be filipino party shenanigans but i turned it into something else :) i hope you enjoy it~!
> 
> (pls forgive me for the tagalog. I myself am filipino american, but I never learned to speak tagalog, so I can't promise that everything is 100% correct)
> 
> also for reference this fic uses will connolly's version of jeremy

“... and I got an F! Morgan is such a bitch, how did he become a teacher.” Jeremy threw his hands up, exasperated.

Michael could tell the boy was pouting without even taking his eyes off of the road in front of him. He snorted. “To be fair, you handed it in like a month late.”

The boy felt a slap to his shoulder. “You’re supposed to be on my side here,” Michael laughed as he glanced over to his best friend. Oh yes, he was  _ definitely _ pouting now.

“Just laying down the facts.” He defended, taking the chance to turn to look at Jeremy fully after stopping at a red light. His arms were crossed as he glared at the dashboard. It took all of five seconds before the look of annoyance turned to one of tiredness.

“I don’t get it, Micah,” he dropped his arms, laying back against the headrest. “I thought senior year was supposed to be, like, easy or something. Not a big fucking mess -- I already had to suffer through that last year!”

“That’s because we’re still in the first semester, dude. You know, it’s all about college apps and shit.” Michael turned his attention back to the road as the light turned green. “So of course it’s hard and annoying.” 

Jeremy groaned. He hated thinking about that stuff. College and what the hell he was supposed to do after that. He was already having a hard enough time in high school, and let’s not even bring up the “incident” from last year. It was just way too much for his seventeen year old brain to be thinking about while juggling school and his job at Target. He often questioned how this could possibly be easy for anybody, not just himself.

Michael was well aware of this, and maybe even shared his outlook on the whole situation, so when the car was left in dead silence, he simply sighed. “You know what, let’s just forget about that. I don’t need your bad vibes ruining my mood.” He imagined his friend rolling his eyes at his teasing, making him smile. “Besides, it’s Friday. I’m thinking we grab some snacks and head for my room just like the old days. Oh! And of course that means playing a certain video game for hours until we either start to lose it or pass out.”

There was a pause.

“Apocalypse of the Damned?”

Michael nodded slowly, his smile growing even wider. “Level nine.”

“It’s literally been months since we’ve played that,” Jeremy laughed. He wasn’t wrong. After the whole squip thing, and then the whole thing with Christine, the school year ending and starting again, and other games coming out, it’s not really a huge surprise that they hadn’t been prioritizing the level. 

“Yeah, well it’s been collecting dust in the abyss that is my xbox apps and it deserves some justice, don’t you think?”

Jeremy sighed and shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. “Fine, but if we literally cannot beat that level tonight, we’re getting stoned and smashing the case to pieces.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Jeremy snorted, pointing out how he made it sound like that’s exactly how tonight would go down as they turned into the street Michael lived on. The filipino boy was about to throw back a witty one liner when he noticed something very off and slightly concerning, pulling up to his house.

There were cars. A  _ lot _ of them, a lot more than there usually is. He literally couldn’t even park in the driveway because there were already two other cars occupying the space!

“Oh no,” Michael inwardly cursed as he started to put two and two together. “Oh no,  _ no, no _ .”

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy piped up, sitting up as he looked around them, concern lacing his features. When his friend didn’t answer, he pushed for details. “Michael, what is it?”

“Shit, seriously?  _ Goddammit-- _ ”

“Michael,  _ what?” _ Michael turned at the call of his name to see Jeremy shooting him his signature look -- a look that combined anger, concern, and fear into a small narrowing of the eyes. It was one that he actually learned from Michael’s moms. The boy could never lie whenever that look was used on him, and it turned out to be pretty helpful for Jeremy and his parents in most cases.

“It’s--” Michael parked in front of the house. “I think my moms threw a party.”

Jeremy paused. What did that matter? They’d be in Michael’s room the whole time, not bothering anyone. “So?”

“So--!? Dude you don’t get it -- my mom is  _ filipino.  _ This is most definitely a  _ filipino party _ .” Michael turned his whole body to face him, hands vividly accompanying his apparent distress over the situation.

“I don’t follow.” The taller boy deadpanned.

“All my titos and titas are probably in there, and so are my cousins-- oh  _ god _ , I hope they didn’t go into my room--!” He was definitely freaking out now. His hand reached to open the car door but quickly drew back as if debating what to do.

Jeremy watched momentarily as the boy’s eyes went back and forth between his phone and the door handle. The brunet furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head to refocus and grabbed onto his friend’s arms. Michael stopped immediately, his expression stuck in an eternal loop of worry and exasperation.

“Michael, dude, calm down,” Jeremy consoled. “So what if they’re having a party, we can just go to my place instead--”

“We can’t.” Jeremy’s face twisted into one of confusion. “She’s already spotted me, I can see her in the window. Oh my god, we’re  _ done for _ , Jere. I’m going to be forced into karaoke, and into talking about college and my non-existent love life--!” Michael let out a long groan, letting his head fall against the wheel. “If I go missing for a few days after this, it’s probably because I was forced into eating so much lumpia that I fell into a coma.”

Despite his friend’s complaints, his way of expressing it made it impossible for Jeremy not to laugh a little. “You make it sound like you’re gonna die.”

“I will! Or at least my part of my self confidence will as soon as they ask me about my weight.” It was his turn to pout it seemed, as he whined. Jeremy laughed again as he let Michael continue to mumble his grievances into the steering wheel. It was kind of… cute, the way he was responding to the situation. The little pout on his lips and his pose made him kind of vulnerable, in a childish way that was definitely in character for the irreplaceable Michael Mell.

And, yes, he said cute, incredibly so in fact, because he just recently learned that he may have a  _ slight  _ crush on his best friend. And no, we  _ aren’t _ going to go into it because the last time he did, he almost let a robotic overlord take over the world. That, and this was supposed to be a comedical one shot, not a multi-chapter slow burn.

A familiar Bob Marley song captured both of their attentions as Michael’s phone lit up, the word “ _ nanay” _ flashing at the top of the screen.

Michael sighed, picking up the phone.

“‘Nay… Yes, I’m coming in, we were just talking… Yeah, Jeremy’s with me… I don’t know, he  _ was _ coming over because we were going to play-- Okay, okay, I’ll ask.”

He hung up, turning to his best friend slowly. “She wanted to know if you wanted to stay for the party too?”

Oh yeah, Jeremy suddenly remembered that he was  _ still there _ , and his only ride was Michael. 

The shorter of the two noticed the prolonged silence, quick to amend his original question. “I mean, you don’t have to, I can just drive you home now. Like, it sucks that we can’t chill tonight, but tomorrow we can if you’re up for it, but y’know it’s probably not a good idea to be vaping around my overly christian relatives and young cousins so--”

“I’ll stay, dude, it’s fine.” Jeremy interrupted before his friend started his anxiety-inflicted tangent. “It’s a party after all, and you need a dat--”

_ Shit wait, that sounded way better in his head. _

“What?”

“I mean, whatever, it’s a party right? And you hate parties, so might as well show you they can be fun.” Jeremy internally sighed.  _ Nice save, dumbass _ .

“I never said I hated them, I just think ones like Jake’s from last year are too-- 90’s-teen-movie cliche, you know?” Jeremy shrugged, kind of understanding where he was coming from, but also thought those types of parties were a little fun. “And besides, this party is way more intense than that would ever be.”

The taller boy rolled his eyes, moving to open the car door. “Yeah, because nothing screams intense like a bunch of middle aged south east asian people.”

Michael mimicked his actions, picking back up the conversation as the boy came to meet him on the other side of the car. “Fine, whatever you want to believe. Just don’t blame me when you’re roped into line dancing to ‘ _ September’ _ .”

Jeremy snorted at the very image of Michael trying to line dance. The boy could dance, he’ll admit, but his specialty was freestyle dance, not whatever weird line dance he was supposedly going to get pressured into doing.

As soon as the two boys came in from the back door, Jeremy was immediately greeted with laughter, intense conversations in what he recognized as filipino, muffled music, and a delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen.

As soon as they stepped off their shoes by the door, a petite woman with long black hair greeted them.

“Why are you so late? I told you to come home quickly to help us get ready!” Michael’s mother chided.

Michael sighed. “Sorry, I… Forgot.” It was a half assed excuse, Jeremy picked up on that pretty quickly. 

His mother clicked her tongue, reaching up to push a strand of hair out of her son’s eyes. “It’s okay,  _ anak _ . Next time, don’t forget, okay?”

The boy nodded in response, and briefly did Jeremy feel like chuckling. It was kind of cute that he was weak to his mother’s affection. He knew that he had a close relationship with both his moms since he was younger, which won him the title of “mama’s boy,” much to his dismay.

Suddenly, the attention was on him as she began talking to him.

“Ah, my god, you’re so big, Jeremy. Who did you get that height from?” She laughs, as if her joke was hilarious, much less a joke to begin with.

Jeremy sheepishly smiled. Most of the time, when he comes over, Michael’s other mom is home, as his mother worked the afternoon to night shifts as a nurse. So when she did get to see him, she always made it a point to mention his height.

“Hi, Mrs. Imelda,” he says as his eyes flickered over to Michael, who’s definitely attempting to not laugh at his awkward conversation with his mother.

Somewhere from the other side of the house, they hear Imelda’s name being called.

“Oh, that’s your Tita Aurora. You know, she’s pregnant again--?” Her name is called, louder, as if that was possible. “ _ Maghintay _ ! Oh, I have to go see what she broke again,” she laughs, “ _ Ay _ , did you two eat? Come, come, go get a plate, your mom is over in the dining room with your Tito Mark.”

She turns on her heel, about to swiftly walk away when she stops, looking back at them. “Go  _ mano  _ your titos and titas, hah? Don’t forget this time.”

With that, she leaves them to their own devices. They share a look of tiredness already before proceeding to go find the abundance of food waiting for them.

Jeremy catches a glimpse of the row of catering trays lining the dining room table. He follows as Michael leads him around the small children playing some sort of chasing game (or maybe they were just running and yelling because that’s what kids do nowadays?). He’s passed a paper plate, and continues to follow his friend into the kitchen.

His mom greets them both as they step in. She’s talking with her son’s aunt and uncle, Jeremy notes. Michael immediately goes over to respectfully greet his relatives, leaving the brunet to awkwardly stand at the other end of the room.

When his friend is done, he motions with his head for Jeremy to come over. He obediently follows, awkwardly standing behind the shorter boy.

“Oh my, Michael, you’ve gotten so big! How old are you now?” His tita asks.

“Seventeen.” He replies simply with a smile.

“Seventeen!? Wow, what grade are you now? Eleven?”

“Twelfth,” his mom answers.

“Twelve? Oh my! You know what, my friend has a son, he…”

Michael turns his attention to his friend as the adults continue their conversation. “Oh thank god,” he whispers, “I swear she was about to ask about college, I would rather drop dead then have that conversation with her of all people. Anyway, let’s get food, I’m starving.”

Jeremy snorted. “We picked up snacks from seven eleven on the way home.”

“Your point?” The boy gives him a look of ‘do you even know me’.

The brunet laughed, rolling his eyes. “I guess it doesn't matter.”

“That’s what I thought.”

They walk over to the arrangement of dishes, mostly filipino food, from what Jeremy can guess, but there’s other stuff he’s eaten before, which is a relief because he’s sort of a picky eater.

Michael wastes no time, going for the rice first and then taking from the dishes without a second thought. He’s guessing Michael’s been in this position more than enough times.

His plate is still empty by the time his friend’s is half full. He tentatively reaches for some pasta, observing what Michael takes and basing his food decisions off of that.

“Uh… What’s that?” Michael momentarily pauses at the question, looking at Jeremy before plating the orange colored stew.

“It’s kare kare, it’s uh, oxtail stew.” Jeremy grimances at the description, earning him an eye roll from his friend. “You don’t need to eat the meat. Here, I think you’ll like it.” The shorter of the two takes the liberty of putting a small ration of rice and stew on his plate for him.

They quickly gather the rest of their food (Jeremy ends up sticking with the pasta, some lumpia, already knowing what it tastes from Michael forcing him to try it before, and the kare kare) and get some drinks before sitting down at the kitchen island counter to eat.

After a few minutes of silence while eating, Jeremy casually mentions, “so this isn’t so bad, besides the fact that I can’t understand what any of your relatives are saying and it’s fucking with my anxiety, but--”

A look of concern flashes across Michael’s face but it’s gone as soon as it appears. “You’re fine, they’re not talking about you.” He quickly reassures, breaking eye contact with the boy.

The change in demeanor worries Jeremy for a second, and the sudden overwhelming urge to cheer up his friend replaces any anxious thoughts. “I think you change when you’re around this many of your relatives. I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mood this stable and your words so filtered before in my life.”

Michael snorts. “Yeah, I guess you can say I play the little innocent teen who definitely doesn’t smoke weed when my parents aren’t home around them.”

“Mhm,” Jeremy hums, “and let’s also pretend like your moms definitely don’t know you’re doing that.”

“They don’t!” The other boy shoots back with a mouthful of food. “... At least I think they don’t.”

Jeremy knows that isn’t the case; it’s kind of hard to hide the smell after all, and his parents are way too smart to think otherwise. But he supposed it was better on his conscience to let Michael think he’s actually fooling someone.

They finish their meals just like they would at school during lunch. They both throw in a comment here or there about something happening around them, some other people come to chat with them (this time, it’s Michael’s younger cousins who are asking him to join them in the basement), and ending with Jeremy admitting that the kare kare wasn’t “too bad”. Michael throws away their plates while Jeremy rummages through his fridge for two cans of soda.

“Y’know what,” the shorter of two starts, eyeing the open door to the conjoined dining room filled with a bunch of his relatives conversing loudly, “I think if we’re careful enough… We can sneak up to my room undetected.”

He firmly nods, making Jeremy snort. “Okay, didn’t realize this was a stealth game.”

“You bet, baby. Except if you get caught there is no restart. You're forced into the hell that is pretending you recognize relatives when they ask 'do you remember me?'” The retort makes them both laugh, but for Jeremy it’s only to cover up his embarrassment. He shouldn’t be freaking about a stupid pet name, but he is, okay? And besides, Michael’s been using the word a lot recently, he probably just started using it because of Jake or something.

After bickering about who should go first, ("Michael, it's  _ your _ relatives,  _ your _ house,  _ your _ plan!" "Exactly, I'm an easy to spot target, if I hide behind your bean pole body I might just make it out alive!"), they ended up with Michael leading the way. They waited until a particularly popular karaoke song came on to shuffle past the party goers in the living room and make it to the stairs.

Unfortunately, for them, just as his foot hit the first step--

" _ Anak _ , where are you going? The party is down here."

The two boys froze in place, heads turning almost comically in sync to the voice calling out to them.

_ Busted _ .

“‘Nay, we’re going to hang out in my room for a little while. It’s too crowded down here.”

His mother clicked her tongue at him, shaking her head as she waved them over to come closer to the group of middle aged women. Jeremy shared a look with Michael, who sighed before taking small, slow steps forward. 

Michael immediately went to greet each of his relatives, once again leaving Jeremy to awkwardly wait behind the couch.

“Michael!  _ Kamusta ka? _ ” Jeremy watches as his friend reaches a relatively young looking woman wearing scrubs.

“Okay, po.” Michael smiles at her -- genuinely, and not the fake kind that he wears around his other relatives.

“That’s good to hear. It’s been too long since I’ve last seen you.” She returns his genuine smile, and as he moves to greet the last person, her eyes land on the tall, out of place boy at the opposite corner of the room. Jeremy accidentally catches her gaze, causing his cheeks to grow pink.

“So who’s this handsome young man?” She asks, turning to Michael.

Before he gets the chance to speak, his mother speaks up. “ _ Siya si Jeremy. _ ”

Her eyes gleam for a moment, the corners of her lips turning up. “ _ Kasintahan mo ba siya? _ ”

The question makes Michael flush immediately, his mouth opening and closing rapidly, no words coming out.

His mother sighs, shaking her head. “ _ Hindi, _ ” she draws out. “ _ Friend lang siya. _ ” She pauses for a moment, turning her attention to her son. “Or at least, that’s what he tells me.” The other women in the group laugh, curiously watching as Michael hurriedly denies the claim, inputting side comments here and there.

Jeremy couldn’t understand what was going on, even when they said it english.

They carry on with asking Michael a few more things. School, college, his weight, if he plays any sports -- all the things he explicitly  _ didn’t _ want them to ask about -- but he had to give him credit for having an answer prepared for each and every topic, regardless if they were true or not. After about twenty or thirty minutes, Michael escapes their grasps and quickly grabs onto Jeremy’s hand before making a break for his room. 

The shorter boy flops onto his bed as soon as they enter the room, Jeremy quitely closing the door behind them. 

“Ughh!” Michael yelled into the sheets. Jeremy simply snorted, dropping into his desk chair. 

“You good?”

The other boy simply yelled again into his bed, this time more comedic effect, before sitting up on his bed. “Yeah, I’m good.” He claimed, though his tired eyes said otherwise.

“Well, at least it’s over, right?” Jeremy tried to console his best friend, but he wasn’t very good at doing that with anyone.

“Hardly,” Michael rolled his eyes. “It’s only like 6 pm. They’re gonna be here forever. But we have time to chill peacefully, at least until they turn on the karaoke.”

“Right,” Jeremy nodded, though he didn’t quite understand what the karaoke had to do with anything. “So… I guess Apocalypse of the Damned is out of the question?” 

“My cousins are probably using the Xbox to play Minecraft, so, yeah.” Michael pursed his lips, his eyes wandering to his laptop sitting on his desk. “Netflix then?”

“Sure,” Jeremy handed over the boy’s laptop. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the password, but ever since he borrowed Michael’s laptop that one time in sophomore year to look up something for an assignment while the other boy was in the bathroom, and was met with gay porn, he never opens it first. Long story, short, that is one of the weirdest ways to find out that your best friend is gay.

Which reminds him…

“Hey Micah,” the boy in question hums, not bothering to look up from the laptop. “Your relative… Er, the one that asked what my name was?”

Michael immediately freezes, eyes widening for a moment before his expression neutralizes. “She’s… She works with my mom, she’s not really related to me.”

“Okay, so then your mom’s friend, you two seem close.”

“I guess so. Last time my parents threw a party, we talked a bit, and she was cool.” Jeremy noticed how Michael refused to meet his eyes, which was unusual for him. He was the type to maintain eye contact during conversations. “What do you want to watch?”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow at him. “About what? She seems at least ten years older than you.” 

“Just like, stuff.” The boy on the bed shrugged.

“Very specific,” Jeremy pressed.

“You know, just like the regular stuff! School and all that! It doesn’t fucking matter,” The other boy threw back, a bit aggressively if he was being completely honest. He still refused to meet Jeremy’s eyes.. “Now tell me what you wanna fucking watch or I’m putting on anime.”

Jeremy frowned at his tone. He didn’t mean any harm by the question, but he was just…  _ Bothered _ by the whole thing. Something about them “just talking” made him nervous for some reason. 

Regardless, he didn’t want to cause his best friend any more stress. So he chose to drop it. “...Anything but anime,  _ please _ .”

He watched the corner of Michael’s lips twitch. “Too late,” Michael moved over to make space for the other boy on his bed. He slowly lifted his eyes to look at Jeremy, a small smile on his face. “We’re watching  _ Haikyuu _ and you’re gonna love it.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, but took the smile as a form of forgiveness. He was about to hop onto the newly made space on the bed when suddenly the bedroom door busted open.

“ _ Oh my god _ , do you guys ever knock!?” Michael groaned.

A group of children stood by the door, most of them he suspected, were elementary schoolers. The “leader” of the group -- the oldest of all the kids -- stepped up, declaring, “ _ Kuya! _ Play the switch with us!”

“I’m kinda busy right now, Matt, if you haven’t noticed.” Michael, motioned to Jeremy, who shyly waved at all the kids.

Matt pouted, looking between the two teens. “He can play with us. Come on, we wanna have a Smash tournament!”

Jeremy knew Michael could never say no to a Smash tournament, so when the boy got up with an exasperated “fine!” and so did the kids, apparently, as they jumped up and down in excitement.

Jeremy watched Michael connect the Switch to the TV in the basement from where he stood next to the couch. He’s been in Michael’s basement countless times before, but it definitely feels a lot different when there’s kids running about everywhere. Well, maybe more than just kids. He noticed a group of teens (younger than himself and Michael) standing around the pool table at the opposite end of the room. None of them appeared to be playing pool though, he watched as the girls whispered to each other, looking back at him every so often.

Well,  _ fuck _ . That was definitely not helping his anxiety.

With the game loaded on the screen, Michael pulled on Jeremy’s arm to have him sit down next to him in the middle of the couch. Despite the big screen, many of the kids decided to sit closer to the TV, on the floor, leaving a lot of space for Jeremy to spread out his legs.

Along with himself, Michael, and the group of kids who asked them to play, there was one more spot for someone else to join.

“Hold on,” Michael said to him, sitting up a bit straighter and looking past Jeremy to the group of teens. “Yo! Any of you guys wanna play?”

Some of them weren’t even paying attention to Michael, too busy making tiktoks, while others just shook their heads and went back to whatever they were talking about. One of the girls, though, was shoved by her friends -- the girls who Jeremy saw stealing glances at him -- to join. He watched her walk over, taking a controller from Michael, and seating herself next to Jeremy.

Her eyes flickered between the screen and Jeremy, causing their eyes to accidentally meet. She smiled, quickly looking away as Jeremy did the same.

“Steph, Jeremy, choose a character.”

They both immediately nodded, choosing their characters and allowing the game to start. The whole time was spent with Michael killing all of his cousin’s characters, to which they responded with whining, which also caused Michael to yell out “you shouldn’t have asked to battle the master!” There were moments where his little cousins’ combined efforts were enough to kill him, and a time when Jeremy destroyed him with one hit -- “Jeremy Heere, you’re a traitor!” “Michael, this is a one on one combat game” -- but as expected, Michael reigned victorious every round.

Jeremy laughed as he watched Michael make a scene of dramatically bowing, saying thank you over and over. It wasn’t long until his cousins were arguing with him that the matches were unfair, leaving Jeremy’s attention unoccupied.

A giggle stirred him from his moment of inattentiveness. He looked to the side to see the girl still sitting besides him. Her eyes were focused on him, and before Jeremy had time to feel weird about it, she spoke up. “I know kuya Michael won, but you were still really good at this game.”

“Uh, thanks,” Jeremy smiled at her. God, casual conversation!? He’s terrible at that! “It’s uh, all about the technique, I guess.”

She leaned a bit closer to him. “I’m Stephanie.”

“Jeremy,” he replied quickly. At least he knew how to give his name. Now the problem is, what do you say next in situations like this? “I, uh, think you did pretty well at the game, too.”

“What? No,” she flushed, looking away for a moment. “I totally sucked at it. I don’t even know the controls.”

He laughed, mostly to stall since he had no idea where to take this conversation. “If that’s the case, then of course you’re gonna be bad at it.” She seemed to take this more kindly than Jeremy was imagining in his head, as she laughed as well.

“Well then… Could you teach me?” She asked, fluttering her eyelashes as she looked up at him.

Jeremy wasn’t as dense as Michael liked to tell him. He could obviously tell this girl had ulterior motives, and trust him, he  _ wasn’t _ interested. But how exactly are you supposed to say that to someone without breaking their heart?

So he just went with the flow.

“Um, yeah okay, why not,” Jeremy shifted a bit to sit up. “So to attack, hit this button, and to jump…”

He could feel her leaning into his space a bit, so he tried to lean away without making it too obvious, but it was hard.

“And what,” she placed her hand over his, “about this one?”

For some reason beyond him, he turned his gaze towards her, only to find her face a few inches apart. 

“This, uh--”

“ _ Excuse me _ ,” Jeremy felt a familiar hand grab his, yanking him away from Stephanie’s space. “Hate to break up your little chit chat, but me and Jere need to go.”

It was a blur, the way Michael tightened his grip on his hand, the way he stormed out of the basement like that, and the way he kept holding onto it even when they got to his room. They stood in the middle of his dimly lit bedroom, hands interlace, the only sound being the somewhat heavy breathing from Michael.

Jeremy wasn’t sure what to say, let alone know what to make of what just happened. All he could register was the feeling Michael’s hand holding his.

“Micah… Are you--”

“Shit,” suddenly Michael was yanking his hand away, and looking at it like it had betrayed him. “That was… Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

Jeremy frowned. “What do you mean.”

The other boy crossed his arms, pacing for a moment before plopping down on his bed. “I don’t know! It just… You were flirting with her!” He exclaimed, looking up at him with accusing eyes

Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows, meeting the boy’s gaze. “I wasn’t.”

“Yes you were! Or at least, you definitely looked like you were.” Michael looked away. “You didn’t even reject her advances! She was about to  _ kiss _ you!”

“She didn’t.” Jeremy wasn’t sure if that was the right answer.

“That’s not the point!” The other threw his arms up in frustration. There was a tense silence between them. Jeremy couldn’t figure out what Michael was getting at, or what he was even thinking, which was rare for them. “Doesn’t that bother you!?”

“Does what bother me?”

“That she likes you! That-- That you were just letting her do whatever with you!?” Michael’s voice was getting louder and louder with each word.

“Hey,” Jeremy retorted, a bit too harshly, crossing his arms. “I wasn’t just letting her do whatever with me. I knew what I was doing.” Michael just silently looked at the floor in front of him. “And for the record, is it weird that someone could possibly like me? I know after the whole Christine thing we promised ‘bros before hoes’ or whatever, but that isn’t even the case here. I’m not into her, okay?”

“... You’re not?” Michael spoke in a small, quiet, voice, the one that Jeremy’s weak to.

Jeremy’s expression softened, “No, I’m not.” He unfolded his arms, rolling the desk chair closer to Michael so that he could sit in front of him. “Listen… If you were weirded out because she’s your cousin, you don’t even have to worry, because--”

“That’s not it…” Michael interrupted him, throwing the hood of his favorite hoodie over his head and pulling on the strings to narrow the opening. “It’’s… Because it’s not me.”

Jeremy blinked. “What?”

He watched the way Michael bit his lip, turning his head to the side, and tightening the strings of his hoodie even further. “When Tita Jess-- the nurse, the one who asked about you…”

“Yeah…?”

“She asked if you… were my boyfriend.” Michael finished.

“B-boyfriend?” It was Jeremy’s turn to become flustered. “Why?”

“Because… The last time I saw her, I told you, we talked about  _ stuff _ \--”

“Yeah, the really specific  _ stuff _ , I remember,” the taller boy made an attempt at humour, but he didn’t get a reaction out of his friend.

“... We were talking about you.”

He was glad Michael wasn’t looking at him because he knows he’s probably making the stupidest expression out of pure confusion.

“Why…?”

“Because… Because… Oh come on, man, don’t make me say it!” Michael whined, kicking the chair Jeremy was sitting in.

“Dude, I’m fucking stupid, you literally have to spell this out for me.” Michael whipped off his hood with the intention to glare at his friend for not taking this seriously, only to find out that he  _ seriously _ had no idea what he was talking about.

He groaned before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He could do this. He was going to do this.

“Jeremy…  _ Gusto kita _ .”

There was a pause.

“I still don’t get it.”

Michael squinted at him. “ _ Gusto _ means like.”

“Okay, and?”

“Jere, you’re killing me here!”

“Wait, hold on,” Jeremy whipped out his phone. Michael watched in utter disbelief as Jeremy opened the Google Translate app. “Alright, say it again.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Well you’re not gonna say it in English, are you?”

Michael pouted. “... No.”

“Then say it again, and I’ll google translate it.” Michael looked between his best friend and his phone for a minute, before complying.

“ _ I like you _ .” Jeremy reads aloud.

Just those simple words caused Michael’s whole face to burn once again. He turned his gaze away, his heart beating wildly out of his chest.

“ _ Oo _ …”

Michael closes his eyes, waiting for the rejection. The good part is that he’s prepared himself for this since the day he realized his feelings. That bad part is that doesn’t know what he’s going to say after this is all over.

“Michael…”

“ _ Anak! _ ” The teens jumped at the sudden call from beyond the closed bedroom door. “Come down here and say goodbye to your Tito Eric!”

The pair stared at the door for a moment, neither of them really knowing what to say or what to do next in a situation like this.

Michael stood up gingerly, sparing a glance at his best friend who was thankfully still staring at the door. “I’ll… I’ll be back.”

For once, he was happy that his relatives never actually left when they say they are. It’s giving him time to stall, to grieve rather, because as soon as he heads back upstairs, he’s going to have to sort through this mess that he’s created for himself. God, driving Jeremy home is going to be one awkward ride.

He’s standing next to his mother at the front door as his uncle and his wife slip on their shoes. They’re still exchanging conversation, and it doesn’t seem to be drawing to an end anytime soon. Michael lets out a small sigh as his eyes wander to the staircase.

All of a sudden, his phone vibrates.

_ My Favowite Person _

\- Michael

\- gusto rin kita

\- ikaw ba ang magiging boyfriend ko

\- uh what’s boyfriend in filipino

kasintahan -

\- ok cool

\- ikaw ba ang magiging kasintahan ko

ok -

\- :)

Michael couldn’t help the warm feeling blooming in his chest. He glanced at the staircase fondly and clutched his phone to his chest as the happiness in him grew. He’s sure that he’s smiling like an idiot right now but he doesn’t care. He finishes up his goodbyes with his uncle, ready to race up stairs and smother his best friend -- boyfriend? -- in hugs when the familiar opening tune to  _ September _ starts.

“Ooh! You love this dance, come on!” His mother pulls him into the lines of middle aged women.

He inwardly curses but figures he shouldn’t fight it. So he dances his heart out.

**Author's Note:**

> the ending is a bit lame because i rushed it, but i hope yall liked it anyway
> 
> if you're interested in some filipino culture:  
> \- nanay: mother  
> \- anak: child  
> \- tita/tito: aunt/uncle (sometimes used even if they are not related to you)  
> \- kuya: older brother (older sister is "ate")
> 
> also taglish (tagalog and english) is very commonly spoken, so in reality they probably would've just used "boyfriend" instead of "kasintahan" but yknow had to use it for plot :)


End file.
